Four goals scored within minutes of one another in the second half paced the College of Charleston’s men’s soccer team to a 4-1 win over top-seeded Elon in the semifinals of the 2008 Southern Conference Championships. The match was played at Davidson’s Alumni Stadium.
In the first half, Elon got off to a quick start, as Southern Conference Player of the Year Justin Wyatt scored his 13th goal of the season at the four-minute mark. Erfan Imeni recorded an assist on the play.
For the rest of the period, both teams were held scoreless, as Elon outshot the Cougars 9-6 in the period.
The second half started similar to the first half, as Elon controlled. But, things started to change after Elon committed a penalty on Charleston’s Branko Gavric in the 65th minute that caused Charleston to take a penalty shot.
Sean Bateau was selected to take the shot and was successful, as the match was now tied up at one on what was Bateau’s first goal of the season.
Three minutes later, a large flurry broke out in front of the Charleston net, which led to an Elon player heading the ball into his own net. The play was scored an own goal that gave the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
The offense barrage would continue in the 78th minute, after Kareem Yearwood broke away from the Elon defense, received the ball from teammate Steven Nagy and tallied his seventh goal of the season to make the score 3-1.
Matt Morris would end the scoring surge for the Cougars almost a minute later, as he tallied his eighth goal of the season off a Jake Helmig cross that made the score 4-1.
At the end of night, the Cougars held a 15-14 advantage in shots, as they outshot Elon 9-5 in the second period. Charleston goalie Clark Hankins held Elon scoreless throughout the match after giving up the early tally, as he made four saves in goal to preserve the win.
With the win, the Cougars advance to their first Southern Conference Championship game since 2004. That season, the Cougars earned a tournament championship after knocking off Davidson 1-0 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In the first match-up this season between the Cougars and Spartans, UNC Greensboro used a two-goal first half to take a 2-1 decision from the Cougars at Patriots Point on Oct. 18th.